1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a method for synthesizing diamonds, from non-diamond carbon by utilizing copper as the solvent and carbon produced by the pyrolisis of an organic compound, such as a carbohydrate like household sugar as the solute. Under laboratory conditions, in an assemblage where one of the parameters is an applied pressure of 100,000 pounds per square inch, copper behaves like a solvent which favors the crystallization of carbon into the cubic system well under the parameters of heat, pressure and time established by other patented processes or thermodynamic considerations.
2. Description of the Background Art
Most synthetic diamonds are created, in industry, using very high pressures, in the order of a million pounds per square inch or more by heating a mixture of carbon or a carbon bearing substance with a carbide forming metal. Copper forms an unstable carbide at ordinary conditions of heat and pressure which explodes when disturbed by heat or handling. Copper is used in some formulations with other metals to increase the heat conductivity of the resulting mass specially when used for cutting tools. No mention is made, in the patent literature, of the use of copper metal as a solvent, when confined with carbon under conditions of high heat and pressure.
The synthesis of diamonds, in nature, has always been considered an enigma by most scientists. Current thermodynamic considerations on the stability of the diamond postulate the theory that they were created, in nature, at a depth of about 100 miles under the surface of the earth. It is problematic to envisage the mechanics of the transportation of diamonds to the surface, by means of a magmatic flow, without suffering etching, resorption or transformation into graphite while travelling through a diamond unstable region.